that most creatus are approximately ten times stronger than the average human. We hear better, see better, and we live twice as long. Hence, all the stories that we are immortal, I believe.
“According to my family, when the new world opened up, my kind was the first to arrive. We’d already had relatives who had lived with the Cherokee Indians for centuries. It was a chance at a new life where all the superstitions of the old country would be laid to rest. Everything was great at first. We worked and lived side by side in a new unbiased country without all the superstitious ninnies.
“When America started turning to crime around the turn of the century, it was my family who attempted to curb the corruption. We took to the streets at night as vigilantes, ridding the cities of the degenerates. It is from my grandfather and father that your superhero stories came about.” He tilted her head. “It may sound unbelievable, but Superman, Spiderman, Batman… they were all one type of man; my family. But then, it wasn’t an angry mob we feared; it was the government. The military has been searching for us for more than seventy years.”
“Why?” she asked, an innocent gleam lighting her eyes.
“It started with some of my kind during World War II. A rumor had spread about immortals who had lived in the mountains had come to protect the innocent. We’d been here all along, but someone had remembered tales of their childhood about how my kind would protect a human and nurse them back to health.” He shrugged. “We’ve always been in the medical field; it makes forging documents easier. Anyway, my family had to tone down the protection, as sad as that is. In 1947, a division under the National Security Council got wind of the stories and got very close. We hide well, though. We have our own schools, medical centers, spies within the government, enabling us to stay one-step ahead. It is the one area our entire race agrees upon; we must stay hidden at all costs.”
Derrick stopped and glanced around the darkened park, thinking they should be getting home. But knew he needed to get to the scary part. The detail about his kind that fed the nightmares. “We protect our own no matter what. Until there’s a rogue. As I said, we are mostly peaceful, but we do have our psychos, as humans do. The only problem is when one of my kind is homicidal, they eat their victims.” She shuddered and he rushed to assure her. “Don’t get me wrong. We don’t crave humans. Humans don’t even smell like food. Believe me, if my kind really craved humans, the human race would have been extinct a long time ago.”
Chapter Eight
Kris shivered again. She gathered the blanket tighter around her shoulders, hoping Derrick wouldn’t think she was afraid of him. Because she wasn’t. “So your family is concerned if you and I don’t work out…” she trailed off, understanding what Derrick had been trying to impress on her.
Derrick pulled her to his chest, his hand running the length of her back. “I would never let anyone hurt you, Kristina. No matter what. I’d die first.”
“But then we’d both die,” she whispered.
She felt the subtle movement of his head. He’d nodded without realizing, she was certain. “I trust you, Kristina. If you’d rather walk away now, I’ll let you go. No one will ever know, and you can live out your life as if you’d never proved I existed with your death-defying stunt.”
Kris huffed out a chuckle. “As if that were even possible.” She turned in his arms again. “I’m not going anywhere, Derrick.” She gazed up at his face, struggling to make out his features in the dim light. “You said you’ve fallen, and that you don’t fall twice.” She felt his chest fill and release. “Is it possible I’ve ‘fallen’ too? Can that happen? Because I swear when you kissed me, I felt something. But then we stopped...”
“Yes,” he murmured. “You’ll feel it inside. It’s painful at first, as if something wants possession of your soul. But when you accept it, when you open up to it, the warmth surges through your body. An electricity flares through every nerve ending, and you feel light, as if your body could just float away on its own.”
“Do you feel that way now?” she asked, hoping he did, but frightened of what that might mean. What if it didn’t happen to her? Was it even possible for a human to fall as he had said? She’d never felt anything like she’d experienced when he kissed her in her apartment, but was that just the anticipation of a first kiss from the man she’d dreamed about nearly every night?
“Yes. I felt it fighting to take control. And I’d blocked it until you mentioned being with another man.” A burst of air left his lungs. “It enveloped me then. Because the thought of you—”
“Then how could I ever leave you?” She lifted her head to his, wanting to give into the feeling.
Derrick dipped his head, brushing his lips across hers as he’d done earlier. “I don’t want you to ever leave me. I want you to stay, but I’m afraid—”
“Kiss me, Derrick. Possess me,” she whispered. “Make me yours. I want to stay with you.”
Without hesitation this time, his mouth parted, taking hers completely. The tip of his tongue touched her lips and her mouth fell open, accepting him. He lowered her onto his lap, his arms folding completely around her, cocooning her to his body. He moved his hand behind her neck, locking her in his embrace.
Every nerve ignited as if she were on fire. Red-hot heat radiated through her body, singeing every molecule without actually burning her. Instinctively, she started to pull back against the fiery emotion, but Derrick held her tightly, refusing to let her go as the fire soared through her veins, radiating under her skin. Her body felt as if it would combust. His mouth pressed harder as her body writhed with a somehow joyous pain. She wanted to contest the burning in her stomach, in her loins, but her mind told her it was a good pain. Her heart raced, pounding out a vicious rhythm, and Derrick pulled her even closer, refusing to break the kiss.
Her muscles seized then tingled, and she realized what her body was experiencing. The most intense orgasm she had ever felt—from a kiss. She gave into it then, feeling the blood rush through her system, an intense heat radiating throughout every molecule in her body. And then she felt a magnificent high. A surge of pleasure she’d never experienced via any man, drug, or alcohol. Her body melted as Derrick finally retracted, but the fullness of his drug remained in her veins, completing her, making her his. “Wow…” was the only word she could push out of her mouth.
Chapter Nine
“
Derrick whipped his head to the sound of his brother’s voice. He focused his eyes on the top of the Chart House, knowing that’s where he’d be hiding. Away from human eyes and ears, but still able to see and communicate with him.
“Excuse me, Kristina.” Derrick stood and gestured that she should stay sitting when she bounced up next to him. “I’m sorry. I’ll be right back.” Her eyes spoke volumes. Sadness, rejection, fear. He lifted her hands to his lips. “I’ve
“Okay,” she said on a sigh, confusion clear in her eyes.
When she settled herself down on the blanket, he sprinted to the end of the park. It was too dark for her, but he could see her straining to see where he’d gone.
Michael landed in front of him with a soft thump. “Did you fall?”
As usual, no pleasantries. His brother had the personality of a doormat. Did he really think Derrick would ever allow anyone to hurt Kristina even if he hadn’t?
“Yes. Completely,” Derrick admitted, even though he didn’t want to tell him. The act was personal. Something he’d waited his entire life to experience, but instead of enjoying the moment with Kristina, he had to address his brother’s queries. Michael was lucky he hadn’t already knocked him to the ground so that he could return to Kristina.
His brother closed his eyes and shook his head. “More importantly… did she?”
“I’m pretty sure, but you sort of interrupted us, you perv. Couldn’t you have waited for me to call you in the
